Comments on Blaine's Puzzle Blog: NPR Sunday Puzzle (Feb. 7, 2010): In Honor of the ...

NPR seems to be posting the puzzler on Saturday fr...

2010-02-13T18:53:43.119-08:00

NPR seems to be posting the puzzler on Saturday frequently. Tomorrow's puzzler (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123697268) is already out there for those who want to get a jump on it.

February 14 Sunday Puzzle is posted.

2010-02-13T18:53:12.572-08:00

February 14 Sunday Puzzle is posted.

Phredp--I looked again and the version on google l...

2010-02-13T18:19:45.017-08:00

Phredp--I looked again and the version on google lyrics was:
Old King Cole was a merry old soul and a merry old soul was he; he called for his pipe and he called for his bowl and he called for his fiddlers three....
NEW PUZZLE IS ON ALREADY--a good one for all of us....

OK but when I googled it, it did not come out that...

2010-02-13T14:53:08.137-08:00

OK but when I googled it, it did not come out that way and I always heard it the other way--but even Ring around a Rosie is often said differently too!!! I accept your way also...
CF

Cookieface, The original rhyme did have the "...

2010-02-12T20:52:10.230-08:00

Cookieface, The original rhyme did have the "middle of the night" line. www.rhymes.org.uk/old_king_cole.htm
Do a google of "called for his pipe in the middle of the night" and there are bunches of references. My mother was from Wales and that's the way she always recited the poem to me.

According to those Web organizations who keep trac...

2010-02-12T16:08:16.525-08:00

According to those Web organizations who keep track of such metrics, World of Warcraft is now played by 10 million folks worldwide. Even though I don’t play, I wouldn’t consider Queen Lana as not well known :)

Having said that, I think we have unearthed three interesting and diverse answers here but Cleo and Cole it is! Dave, I congratulate you that your puzzle was chosen. Since I appeared on-the-air several years ago I have submitted several puzzle ideas to Will myself but none have been selected. It’s a tough selection committee to get through :)

Chuck

Thank you Blaine! And apologies to Hugh. It was hi...

2010-02-12T14:25:01.237-08:00

Thank you Blaine! And apologies to Hugh. It was his "Supper Bowl", not Ken's.

http://www.kidsreads.com/wordscrambles/cleo-pyrami...

2010-02-12T12:00:12.127-08:00

http://www.kidsreads.com/wordscrambles/cleo-pyramid.asp
This kids' website lists Cleo as the nickname for Cleopatra. Guess I am not smarter than a fifth grader!!

After anagramming every possible nickname I could ...

2010-02-12T11:37:43.299-08:00

After anagramming every possible nickname I could find for Cleopatra as I got the "aspirin" clue and the "denial" clue, I finally submitted Queen of Kings and King of Queens. Never thought of Cleo as a nickname either, as many above have said. Got hooked on the clues of "post" as the King of Queens delivered for UPS or some parcel delivery company, so thought I got it right. What were those clues about? Win or lose, I always have fun getting my brain to make some sense of the clues, so yes, the synapses fired this week. That will keep us all young, heh?

Dave--I think the crew is being unnecessarily hars...

2010-02-12T06:47:25.362-08:00

Dave--I think the crew is being unnecessarily harsh--no question that Cleo is a nickname for Cleopatra, when one considers the definition of nickname. It's less clear to me that Cleo was a nickname for Queen Cleopatra. I suspect no one ever called the Queen of the Nile by that moniker. But it's splitting hairs. Great puzzle! Had us all thinking and anagraming. I still like my answer--thought it captured the essence of a royal nickname, and, with respect to King Sayid, as I learned from the Cheri Oteri, well-known is in the mind of the beholder. Neither I nor an office mate knew Cheri Oteri at all, but the janitor cleaning our office at the time was VERY familiar with both Oteri and Hatcher... go figure. Congrats on a great puzzle!

bcgal, Ben's clue deleted comment was "...

2010-02-12T06:20:19.602-08:00
bcgal, Ben's clue deleted comment was "Super Bowl or goldfish bowl?". With a reference to the fish in Pinocchio named Cleo. It was right on the cusp, since you probably need to know the answer to see it as a giveaway clue, but I wasn't sure...

Long time lurker, first time poster: I have two s...

2010-02-12T01:43:39.132-08:00
Long time lurker, first time poster:

I have two solutions, neither of which jive with the aforementioned...

I) Trivial: The Queen of Kings(Cleopatra) ~ The King of Queens(Guy on TV)

II) Obscure: Virgin(referring to Elizabeth I) ~ Irving(pseudonym of songwriting duo from Britain)

What say you?

-A

Well I certainly stirred things up this week, didn...

2010-02-12T00:09:36.553-08:00
Well I certainly stirred things up this week, didn't I. As most of you figured out, the answers I submitted were Cleo and Cole. I submitted Old King Cole and Nat King Cole as acceptable answers to the second part of the puzzle.

JenJen, your clue about a gaseous queen led me to google Cleopatra Gas, and sure enough, there is a Cleopatra Gas Gathering Company and a Cleopatra Pipeline, so that's what I thought you were alluding to.

Suzyq, very creative, but I wouldn't consider the queen or king to be well known.

Chuck, a lot of us have heard of Alan King, but you haven't heard of Queen Lana unless you're a World of Warcraft participant.

Lorenzo, nice job in picking up the unintential anagram (thE COLts). Looking back on my earlier posts, I thought you might have been referring to COupLE.

Some of you didn't like the fact that I used Cleo as a nickname for Cleopatra. While Cleo probably wasn't the nickname of the queen of Egypt, it is a common nickname for Cleopatra.

Ben, why did you spend an hour anagramming Cleopatra if Cleopatra isn't a nickname?

I hope that I caused a few neurons to fire while you were trying to figure out my puzzle. To those of you who didn't like the puzzle, Sunday will be here very soon. Keep on solving!

p.s. My first grade teacher called me "Miss R...

2010-02-12T00:08:38.014-08:00
p.s. My first grade teacher called
me "Miss Ribbons" and the kids
called me "Jellybeans."

We learn every day. My mother called me Geraldine...

2010-02-11T23:56:39.332-08:00
We learn every day. My mother
called me Geraldine. I hever
thought of Geri as a "nickname."

If we can agree that one definition of "nickn...

2010-02-11T19:03:47.240-08:00
If we can agree that one definition of "nickname" is a shortened version of a familiar name, then Cleo makes a lot of sense. As a culture we abhor long names and will surely find ways to shorten them: Frederick = Fred, Mortimer = Mort, Rosalind = Roz, Elizabeth = Liz, Beth, etc.

I agree that the intended answer is very weak--and...

2010-02-11T18:37:44.832-08:00
I agree that the intended answer is very weak--and I have never heard that OLd King Cole's rhyme say that he called for his pipe in THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. These last words are not in the lyrics of the song.
So be it said, this puzzle was not one of the best....Sorry Dave

I feel the need to add on to Ben's discontent ...

2010-02-11T18:32:41.224-08:00
I feel the need to add on to Ben's discontent with the probable answer to this puzzle as Cleopatra has several WEEL KNOWN nicknames but none which are Cleo; Most notable & common - The Queen of The Nile & The Queen of Kings. If Cleo is the answer, I will be very underwhelmed with this week's puzzle.

phredp, I finally got your aspirin reference, but ...

2010-02-11T17:33:14.806-08:00
phredp, I finally got your aspirin reference, but not before your mention of "headache" had me searching for monarchs who had been beheaded!

Dave and Blaine, I seem to be finding clues where ...

2010-02-11T17:05:25.098-08:00
Dave and Blaine, I seem to be finding clues where none were intended. You both used the word pair "the Colts", of which letters 3,4,5,and 6 (ecol) are an anagram of the probable answer.

My clues were "aspirin". Cleo was bitte...

2010-02-11T17:05:05.398-08:00
My clues were "aspirin". Cleo was bitten by an asp.
"Middle of the night with a headache" referred to "Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he,
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night, and he called for his fiddlers three."
The Jerry Reed comment referred to his wife Cleo.

Being new here, I'm grateful I didn't get ...

2010-02-11T16:18:34.749-08:00
Being new here, I'm grateful I didn't get my comment pulled. I thought I was being really obvious with "sole"(merry old soul) and "without the Pat...". I actually took out "cheering for" (rah!) And didn't dare repeat Ken's "Supper Bowl".

Missed Ben's comment that got axed. Can someone fill me in so I can see what kind of comment it was, to avoid overstepping the mark in future?
Ta.

I was irked to learn that I didn't know the 2n...

2010-02-11T16:13:09.971-08:00
I was irked to learn that I didn't know the 2nd definition of "nickname" but all the good dictionaries include it - a shortened version of a familiar name (never though Dave was my nickname).

Wow, am I ever crying foul on this one. (Probab...

2010-02-11T15:59:57.241-08:00
Wow, am I ever crying foul on this one.

(Probably cause it's the first puzzle I missed in some months and I'm being an a**. Someone please set me straight.)

I spent an hour or so anagramming Cleopatra and came up with nothing. And I have NEVER in my life heard anyone refer to her as Queen CLEO of Egypt.

As stated earlier, Cleo is a contraction but not a nickname. If you Google "Queen Cleo," you get exactly ZERO hits related to the queen of Egypt. Just some beauty products and a tranny or two.

Bogus bogus bogus.

(Sorry, Dave, I'f I'm being a grump )

-- Other Ben

I too went with CLEO and COLE. My hints are explai...

2010-02-11T15:20:08.624-08:00
I too went with CLEO and COLE. My hints are explained in my edited post.